


Know the water's sweet, but blood is thicker.

by arfrid



Category: Harry Potter - Fandom
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Aftermath of the War, Brother-Sister Relationships, Gen, Ginny Weasley Needs a Hug, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-20
Updated: 2020-08-20
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:35:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26018134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arfrid/pseuds/arfrid
Summary: Ginny Weasley was not okay.Harry Potter had just come back, alive, from the war. Alecto and Amycus Carrow were in Azkaban. Her family (apart from Fred) was safe. They were safe.So why wasn't she okay?ORGinny is not okay after her Sixth Year and the War and needs a hug and Bill supplies.
Relationships: Bill Weasley & Ginny Weasley
Kudos: 14





	Know the water's sweet, but blood is thicker.

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Avicii (Rest In Peace) "Hey, brother."

Ginny walked into the kitchen, surprised to see Bill there, and Fleur leaving to go the somewhere else in the Burrow with a quick goodbye kiss. Bill looked over, saw her, and smiled.

“If it isn’t my favorite sister!” He cried. He walked over and hugged her. She disguised the flinch _I ~~thought Gryffindors were brave, huh? Treat me like a Gryffindor would! Go on! Don’t show weakness, you blood-traitor bitch~~ _and hastily hugged him back. When they broke the hug, he caressed her cheek and kissed the top of her head.

“My Gin-Gin.” He muttered softly. “My baby sister.”

She pouted playfully. “Not a baby.”

He ruffled her hair – being over a foot taller than her helped more often than not, though it annoyed her younger self to no end – and then walked backwards and grabbed the shopping list.

“Right, so, Gin-Gin. We have a few things on our agenda—”

_“—such as the Cruciatus curse. Weasley, would you be so kind as to come up here with, hmm, let’s see, Miss Forron?” Ginny’s jaw clenched. Elia Forron was a nice Hufflepuff third-year who sometimes patched up wounds in the DA. She glanced over at the girl. Elia’s blue-purple eyes that reminded Ginny of galaxies were wide with fear. Ginny slowly but surely walked over, and gestured for her to walk over too._

_The girl got up, the only sound the scraping of her chair. She walked forwards, trembling, and stood next to Ginny. The redhead put her arm comfortingly over the other girl’s shoulder, knowing it would piss Alecto Carrow off._

_She was right; her so-called “Teacher’s” eyes were narrowing at her, but she didn’t move._

_“Now, Weasley. How about you demonstrate the curse? Use it on her.” The girl tensed up, trembling ten times as hard as she was before, her lip wobbling slightly._

_Ginny looked over at Alecto, straight in the eyes, and simply said, “No.”_

_Alecto’s eyes were suddenly furious, and she looked to the class._

_“Another curse is the Imperius curse. Imperio!” She exclaimed, and Ginny staggered. In her mind there was a voice, a sweet, soothing voice._

_‘Put your wand up, dearie, and I promise you, it will all be alright.’ It said. Ginny was so tempted to do so, but there was a harsh realization, a harsh reasonable voice on the other side._

_‘“I’m Tom Riddle, nice to meet you, Ginny Weasley.”’ it said. Ginny’s heart beat faster. She heard those words before; she had been a terrified year-one student, and he was her only friend. ‘You don’t want a repeat of that! Break out of it, break out of it, break—’_

_“Out of it!” She yelled out loud, and suddenly she was back into the classroom. She could see in the Alecto seething corner of her eye, and she smiled. “Dealt with that shit before, with Tom Riddle, your so-called, “Dark Lord.””_

_She got the effect she desired; the kids behind her gasped, whether they knew it beforehand or not, and Alecto’s face was struck with fear and rage all at once._

_Alecto glared at the girl, then silently pointed her wand at the girl and muttered something. The girl’s eyes became clouded, and she pointed her wand at her, and then suddenly Ginny was dying, drowning underwater and burning all at once and—_

“—And a _single_ pineapple for some reason… Wait, Gin? Ginny, are you okay?” Bill’s voice rang in her ears, but it was no use. She could still feel the white-hot knives all piercing her skin from every direction. Her legs gave way and she fell down, failing to support herself on the sofa. “Ginny!”

She was breathing

_heavily, waiting for the mean Slytherin boys to do their worst, as she had dared them. She was suddenly put under a body-bind curse and lying down on her front. There was a searing pain in her back, and she couldn’t register the laughing, but it felt like knives drawing down into her skin, forming a picture she couldn’t quite make out. After an excruciating time of the pain, Amycus smiled and nodded his satisfaction._

_She was left alone with him. He kicked right where hurt on her back and she whimpered, barely holding in tears._

_“Worthless blood-traitor. Crucio!”_

_The pain was the same as it always was, except this time, it felt like a weight the size of a boulder crushing against her back, and she couldn’t register the—_

shouts from her brother.

“Ginny! Ginny! Oh my god, Ginny! Rennervate! Rennervate!” Bill’s panicked voice cut through, and it didn’t feel like pain on her body anymore, and she could breathe, but she couldn’t risk opening her eyes, the Carrows might see…

 _Sod it_ , she thought, and opened her right eye ever so slightly, and was surprised to not see the dungeon that was usually used for detentions, but her living room instead. “Oh, bloody hell… Ginny!”

She opened her eyes all the way and looked at him. She was lying on the floor with one of her brother’s hands under her head and the other on her arm. He was on top of her, shaking her. His form was slightly blurry, but as she grew accustomed to the sudden light, she saw his eyebrows knitted in worry, his scarred face slightly hard to read, though she thought it was something like concern or… or _anger…_

“Ow, okay Bill, actually hurting there, could you— Argh, ow, what happened?” she asked, scratching her head. Bill’s eyes were still worried, but now he looked slightly uncomfortable.

“I started saying the shopping list, and your eyes got all glassy – damnit, I should have noticed! – But, anyways, your eyes went all glassy and I asked what was wrong, but you staggered and passed out and had a seizure, and—”

“Shit, sorry Bill. Don’t—” She cut herself off, mentally cursing at herself for being so careless with her words. Bill froze, staring at her like he would a horror film character, with anger and fear. He knew he heard the underlying question. _Don’t hurt me._

There was a second silence, a stare-off between the two siblings until Bill broke it. “G-Gin… Were you... Were you _hurt_ at Hogwarts?”

Ginny stared at him confusedly, then remembered, _ah yes, he hadn’t been there at Hogwarts,_ so she just said, “Yeah? Well, duh. I mean, powerful dark wizards ruling the school, me being a so-called Blood-Traitor, yeah.”

She almost regretted being so matter-of-factly. He stared at her in disbelief, starting to shake with anger. His nostrils were flared and he was glaring at her. Well, not at her, but he was probably cursing the Carrows with swear words she wouldn’t even know. There was a mighty silence, one that would be uncomfortable, though Ginny had learnt to ignore it.

She got up, staggering again and sitting on the sofa. She got up again with help with the arm of the sofa and looked at him.

“So, that shopping list, eh? What did you say it had on it that was weird?” She asked casually, as if what happened hadn’t just happened. Bill looked at her in disbelief.

“Gin, you’ve got to tell someone!” He yelled. She startled, falling back on to the couch. He sighed and said calmly, “You have to tell someone.”

Ginny’s muscles were still tensed. “Why should I? They’re in Azkaban, aren’t they?” She scowled. His glare deepened at her. “Besides, I’m fine, it’s Harry who needs help, I don’t matter—”

“You think… you don’t matter?” Bill interrupted, sounding heartbroken. Ginny flinched and cursed herself again.

“Look, I—” She faltered; what do you say in this situation? “I’m, I—What happened, happened, okay? So just let it go, concentrate on Harry, he’s more important than me…”

She said it almost as if she was drunk, with a few random slurs in her words for no reason. Bill gripped her wrist.

“Gin, you’re not okay.” He whispers, like it was those four words that would break apart the world. She cringed.

“Yeah, no shit, Sherlock.” She said sharply. She then sighed an put her head in her eyes. “I-I just- need some rest, some me-time.”

Bill didn’t say anything. Instead, he put his arms around her his head on hers, and she just – broke. Tears fell out her eyes and she hugged him tightly, gasping in-between sobs.

“I- Can’t- Billy! I, I, I- I still see it! They hurt me, I’m not okay! I need you, Billy, I need my big brother back! Everyone’s so apart these days and I just n-need it to be the same as before, but it won’t ever be the same, and I just- want- it- to- end!”

Bill let her sob into him, eventually sitting back on the couch. He just rubbed her neck, and just held her.

When her tears finally stopped and she was fast asleep on his lap like she had been at five years old, he leaned down to plant a kiss on her head. He rubbed her back, but stopped when he heard her give a painful shuddering sigh. Her face nowadays was so falsely cheerful, so devoid of the smile that had lit up her entire face, that he had forgotten how innocent and young she looked during her rare naps.

He smiled at her and leaned down and whispered a few words. “ _It’ll be okay.”_

He swore he saw her mouth twitch upwards.


End file.
